Repetitive redundancies and other ridiculous nonsense

The English language, as commonly spoken in this country, is full of excessive verbiage and unnecessary phraselogical redundancy -- in other words, tautology.

Taut "¢ ol "¢ o "¢ gy:
Needless repetition of an idea, esp. in words other than those of the immediate context, without imparting additional force or clearness, as in "widow woman."

Some tautological phrases are so ingrained in our popular language -- like "bits and pieces" or "first and foremost" -- that to simplify them would destroy their traditional impact. This is what interests me: when language abandons utilitarianism in favor of habit. Richard Kallan's book Armed Gunmen, True Facts and other Ridiculous Nonsense is a great collection of common and uncommon tautological phrases, and we thought we'd highlight some of our favorites here.

"¢ "False pretense"
If pretense is "the act of alleging falsely," as Dictionary.com asserts, then wouldn't a false pretense be ... true?

"¢ "Advance warning"
A warning delivered after the fact is known, I believe, as "Monday morning quarterbacking."